Some Days I Feel I Have Wings: Day 3

I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart. - Mary Oliver






















I didn't get to see our morning totem animal because I was in the studio printing plates for transfer images while Chelsea and Ann raised The House of Belonging. I was a bit off kilter as the night before I had accidentally fallen asleep before I finished all the preparations for the day.

The girls reported seeing all sorts of creatures, one of which was a butterfly. I would like to think that butterfly was our totem for the day since yesterday we made some playful butterfly imagery. And unbeknownst to the girls, we were using butterfly imagery for our art panels later.





"The butterfly reminds us that life is a dance of joy. They teach us that growth and transformation does not have to traumatic; it can occur gently, sweetly, joyfully" - Ted Andrews from Animal Speak - This book was given to me by my friend Pixie Campbell.

Today's gift was provided by the generous and thoughtful people of Hay House Publishing. They sent the girls a "Creative Dream Game" by SARK.

An interesting behind the scenes story regarding this game...apparently the game is no longer being made. However, Jacqui, the magical publicity director at Hay House was searching the warehouse for inspiring gifts for the girls when in her search she happened to find some of the games....the exact number of games needed for camp!

"It was meant to be", she said. I agree.

Today I gave the girls an imagery prompt for their journals inspired by "Woman Who Lives Under the Lake" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes PhD

You see a bird flying high above the tipi, she says, "I am you, and I have traveled a long distance. Come with me, there is something I must show you."

What does her wings look like?

I then showed the girls how to make transfer prints and gave them the images that I had printed in the predawn hours of the morn. They got right to work....
















This is just a small sample of their beautiful work. Their transfer prints are stunning.












































































Our next project was to complete the art panel we started the day before. We used a butterfly shaped dye cutter and punched out butterflies from colorful papers. One butterfly for each year of their life thus far. We wrote empowering words on the wings and glued them to the canvas board that they painted earlier. We added black satin ribbon tied in a bow to hang the art panels. This project was inspired by the butterfly collage posted at Crafty Crow.

Before packing up camp, we finished our prayer flags. We will sew them onto ribbon and the girls can hang them in the tipi tomorrow morning.

Wisdom Walk: Take a short walk with your mom. Look for found objects for your journal...cool twigs, a special rock, flowers, a leaf...something that catches your eye and feels right.


Never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often - Mary Oliver